No man is an island, but this Trinity Western volleyball player is a rock for his school, his family and in his sport

CALGARY — Ryan Sclater is known every bit as much at Trinity Western University for his love of English literature as for his prowess on the volleyball court.

While many student-athletes are consumed by their sport, Sclater is the poster child for living a balanced life. The 23-year-old from Port Coquitlam, B.C., is a devout Christian, loving husband, dedicated scholar and fantastic volleyball player — in that order.

The Canada West male athlete of the year is one of four male finalists — along with hockey player Philippe Maillet from the University of New Brunswick; football player Mathieu Betts of Laval University; and soccer star Jonathan Lao of York University — for the 2016-17 BLG Awards.

The winners of the awards honouring the top athletes in U Sports will be announced May 1 at a ceremony in Calgary.

“For me, it’s always been a normal thing to be fully involved in both athletics and academics,” Sclater said Thursday. “That was always just something I assumed was normal, which I later found it wasn’t. I’ve learned a lot about having to pick to the things that are absolutely the most important and to commit to those things.”

When Sclater commits, he is all in. On the volleyball court, the six-foot-seven outside hitter led Trinity Western – based in Langley, B.C. — to a second consecutive national title. Individually, he finished fifth in the country in both kills (4.29) and points (5.0) per set en route to establishing single-season and career school records in both statistical categories.

“The scouting report is that he’s just a stone-cold killer — a point scorer,” Trinity Western head coach Ben Josephson said. “He hits the ball as hard as anyone our program has ever produced. And he plays both left and right side, which is going to make him a really good professional volleyball player.”

Sclater excelled in basketball at Terry Fox Secondary School, which didn’t have a volleyball team. In fact, he led the basketball squad to a provincial title and was named the championship tournament’s most valuable player. All along, he played club volleyball and decided to stick with it in university.

“In the basketball world, people were pretty surprised that I was going to continue on with volleyball,” Sclater said. “At Terry Fox, basketball was pretty dominant. It was a football and basketball school. I thought about which sport I would be able to go farther with long term. I knew I could probably play post-secondary for either one, but it was probably a long shot to make the NBA. But I had seen guys play volleyball at Trinity Western and then go pro overseas and play on the national team.”

Known on campus as an old soul, Sclater executed his game plan to perfection. With near-perfect grades, he earned his English degree, won two volleyball championships and signed on for next season with a professional team in Germany. He is also on the radar of the Canadian national men’s volleyball team.

“He really is a renaissance man,” Josephson said. “He’s not your typical jock or student-athlete of today. He’s very much a student who is pretty good at sports.”

On road trips and in quiet moments before and after practice, Sclater could often be found reading the classic works of John Donne, Gerard Manley Hopkins and Geoffrey Chaucer.

He credits an intrinsic love for reading for paving the road to academic success.

“When I was three, my mom would read me this one book about Noah’s ark over and over again, and eventually I just memorized it,” he said. “I would turn the pages and ‘read.’”

That gave Sclater confidence to start putting the words together for real by age four or five.

“When you learn to read and remember what you read, then school just becomes easier than it is for other people,” said Sclater, who hopes to one day become an English professor. For now, he is putting his academic career on hold to play professionally and shoot for a spot on Team Canada.

“I’m not sure if he has the passion to pursue a 10- or 15-year volleyball career,” Josephson said. “He wants to see what that life is like for him and his family. Sports are not super important to him. He has much bigger aspirations of a career and a family. He and his wife are going to decide what’s the best thing for them. And it may work that volleyball is part of that path. But frankly, I don’t know.”

Comments

We encourage all readers to share their views on our articles and blog posts. We are committed to maintaining a lively but civil forum for discussion, so we ask you to avoid personal attacks, and please keep your comments relevant and respectful. If you encounter a comment that is abusive, click the "X" in the upper right corner of the comment box to report spam or abuse. We are using Facebook commenting. Visit our FAQ page for more information.

Share

No man is an island, but this Trinity Western volleyball player is a rock for his school, his family and in his sport

Almost Done!

Postmedia wants to improve your reading experience as well as share the best deals and promotions from our advertisers with you. The information below will be used to optimize the content and make ads across the network more relevant to you. You can always change the information you share with us by editing your profile.

By clicking "Create Account", I hearby grant permission to Postmedia to use my account information to create my account.

I also accept and agree to be bound by Postmedia's Terms and Conditions with respect to my use of the Site and I have read and understand Postmedia's Privacy Statement. I consent to the collection, use, maintenance, and disclosure of my information in accordance with the Postmedia's Privacy Policy.

Postmedia wants to improve your reading experience as well as share the best deals and promotions from our advertisers with you. The information below will be used to optimize the content and make ads across the network more relevant to you. You can always change the information you share with us by editing your profile.

By clicking "Create Account", I hearby grant permission to Postmedia to use my account information to create my account.

I also accept and agree to be bound by Postmedia's Terms and Conditions with respect to my use of the Site and I have read and understand Postmedia's Privacy Statement. I consent to the collection, use, maintenance, and disclosure of my information in accordance with the Postmedia's Privacy Policy.